There Should Not Be an Asterisk Against Women's Success

Wednesday 13 August 2025

By Roseann Kelly MBE, CEO The WiB Group as featured in Ulster Business Top 100 2025.

A woman’s career success ought to be celebrated for what it is, rather than being shackled with a caveat. Not when women remain underrepresented at every stage of the corporate pipeline. Not when we are still a full 123 years away from true gender parity in our workplaces, according to the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap report.

This caveat, an invisible and often inevitable asterisk, tends to manifest in a verbal “but” when recognising the accomplishments of women at the top. She’s lucky, but she had help; she has built a fantastic career, but she’s not balancing her family life; she is a leader in her field, but she’s too ambitious.

The path to parity has been too slow for such double standards. The notion that a woman’s career achievements requires a footnote stems from persistent stereotypes that success in leadership, business or politics is an inherently masculine pursuit. And so begets a cultural discomfort to ‘explain away’ a woman’s success. That she must have had a leg up, or perhaps a ‘house husband’ or partner in her corner, to enable some sort of shortcut to the C-suite. Rarely is a man’s career viewed through this lens – if at all.

Nowhere is this more apparent than the motherhood penalty, whereby women suffer career setbacks for choosing to have children on a proverbial playing field that’s already tilted against them. The choice to become a parent – or not – also becomes part of the corporate conversation in a way it seldom does for men. A successful woman with children is often asked how she manages to “do it all.” Now consider this: have you ever heard the same question asked of a male executive or leader?

Because the blunt reality is that, no matter a woman’s choice about parentage, her career is seen through a prism where priorities and personal sacrifices are questioned, rather than being celebrated purely on its own merit.

How can we change this tune? Eliminating the invisible asterisk requires more than just applauding individual women. It involves a holistic approach to confront and in many cases deconstruct the barriers and the biases that have for too long been weighted against women. The onus is on business leaders and elected representatives to strive towards creating environments where women’s achievements are accepted at face value. No caveats necessary.

The success of women in the corporate world has been hard fought. You do not need to look too far to find a damning statistic of the prevailing underrepresentation for women within senior management teams. It is heartening to see the numbers climb, thanks to bespoke pathways and focused support that organisations like The WiB Group provide day-and-daily to accelerate inclusivity.

Yet we mustn’t be complacent. The arrival of the Ulster Business Top 100 is a reminder that, for Northern Ireland’s business community, progress is not parity. That there are only six companies featured with women CEOs speaks to the fragile gains and persistent gender imbalance on our doorstep. Six percent doesn’t seem like much when women make up 51% of the population.

Leadership limited to any one gender leaves organisations missing out on diverse perspectives, better decision-making and ultimately ensures they are an attractive prospect for potential employees. This must go beyond simply ensuring that women have a seat at the table; it’s about ensuring those same women are active players in the workings of an organisation. With their fingers on the pulse and leading with purpose.

The WiB Group is working hard on the ground to strengthen the pipeline for women at every stage, whether that’s a female founder taking the first step towards launching a business, a woman returning to the workforce after a break, or a manager undertaking leadership and development training to fast-track her career towards the next level. Central to all of this is our drive for greater inclusion and its proven benefits for business, with Diversity Mark enabling organisations big and small to step forward on this journey with confidence. Towards success that is sustainable and long-lasting, and ultimately has the power to bring about a positive impact to the local economy and our society as a whole.

We must reach a point where a woman’s success can stand alone, celebrated for what it is instead of being pigeonholed for what it’s not. Doing so requires calling out all the subtle ways that society undermines these achievements. Because the reality is, our women leaders have worked too long and fought too hard, through bias and barrier, to be overshadowed by an asterisk.

What they need is the space, support and ultimately recognition to thrive on their own terms.

Wednesday 13 August 2025